The world of James Hsieh… Stay dreaming!

When you first get a glimpse of artist James Hsieh’s amazing soft sculptures, their colorful and animated designs seem quite playful. But as you stop to take them in, many reveal a mixture of childlike fantasy and strange imagination.With some of them bordering on ‘creepy’, his eye-catchingly large yet soft textured botanical creations have inspired plenty of excitement as well as conversation at his gallery showings and art installations around the Empire State.

James Hsieh began making his whimsical soft sculptures in earnest when he came to New York City from Taiwan. Having dreamt of New York since childhood, he arrived in 2015 in pursuit of an MFA from Parsons. He decided to make the move after White Rabbit Gallery in Australia bought several of his pieces. Yet his expectations about the Big Apple did not match the reality. At first the move made James incredibly anxious. “I was overwhelmed by the urban landscape,” he says, adding that he grew up on his grandparents’ land in the Taiwanese countryside.

His other source of anxiety was the language barrier. James was uncomfortable with English immersion and frustrated that he could not fully express himself. People’s perception of him didn’t help. “I felt their eyes on me, looking at me like I was weird,” he says. “They didn’t want to talk to me because of my broken English.”

This anxiety crept into James’ dreams. The gnawing feeling he experienced everyday in his new city manifested itself as blue ants with teeth. In his dreams, James always appeared flying above the ants, unable to control or escape them. He began making felt and poly-fil ants to represent the creatures in his dreams.

“And the part nobody ever believes is that I hand sew them,” says James. He explains that he has more control that way but also sheepishly adds that he’s not quite sure how to use a sewing machine. “I will learn,” he laughs. After all, James is one to push himself. He taught himself to sew just as he taught himself stop-motion animation—a technique he hopes to employ again soon. He wants to activate his smaller sculptures such as he did with his wearable piece, The Wanderer. He made a video of himself wearing the black and white flower creature to tourist spots throughout New York City at 3 a.m. From Times Square to Grand Central Station, he wandered.

“At one point I heard a police siren and thought they were going to arrest me, but when they stopped me, all they wanted was a picture,” says James.

For more information about this AMAZING artist and his workshops, check out his official site at Jameshsieh.com

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Textile Artist Spotlight: James Hsieh & His Fantastical Hand Sewn Creations was posted at J&O Fabrics Store Newsletter Blog. | https://www.jandofabrics.com/blog